S c a n d a l o u s
by x-HotMess
Summary: You're nobody until you're talked about. Jason/Caitlyn
1. No Good, You're Up To No Good

Shane: Trouble maker, heart breaker, risk taker.

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Nate: Sensitive soul, in control, focused goals.

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Jason: …um, he has nice hair.

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Jason had never been more than background music. The surrounding noise. He always sat in the back seat of the whirlwind sensation that was Connect Three. Everybody wanted to know about Nate's music and Shane's romantic life, but when it got to Jason, they just asked him the basic questions that had him flogging all this promotional garbage that he'd been told to rehearse. Just once he wanted to be asked who he was dating. Just once he wanted to have a 'Marry Me, Jason!' sign floating around in the screaming crowd.

But it never happened. He was just the background music. Riding the wave of success on the backs of Nate's talent and Shane's good looks.

And eventually he just got sick and tired of being invisible.

* * *

_**More Than Connecting With His Fans?  
**_OMG! Yes, that is Jason Green with his tongue in that girl's mouth and her hands in his pants! This was taken at The Roxbury on Wednesday night, where apparently Jason was hitting on all the female bar staff before signing a fans titties and pulling her into his lap to fully make out with her! Ewww! Jason, you can do better, trust! Why don't you get Shane Gray or Nate Brown to hook you up with a nice girl? Or better yet, word on the street is your good friend Caitlyn Gellar is back on the market.  
The Vibe Records intern cutie just went through a bad split with her dodgy ex, and needs a shoulder to cry on. After going on tour with Connect Three and their opening act Mitchie Torres, both girls have often been romantically linked to all three members of the boy band, but they all insist they're just good friends, although 'anyone would be lucky to date Caitlyn/Mitchie.'  
Yeah, yeah, we've heard all that before. Hannah Montana ring any bells, Nate?  
Either way, Jason better get his shit together - fast!

--

Not another one! The latest celebutard to get done for drink driving is none other than boy bander Jason Green. He was caught going down the freeway 20 miles over the limit and with a blood alcohol of 0.09! Ouch! His court appearance is scheduled later this month. Wonder what Vibe Records thinks of this latest misdemeanour? If they thought Shane Gray was bad, that was nothing compared to what Jason has gotten up to, only this time there's no Camp Rock-esque intervention. Only time will tell if Vibe chooses to keep Connect Three on board, or cast them and their tarnished image aside.

--

"…And just when it seems that bad boy Shane Gray, lead singer of pop sensation Connect Three, has finally gotten back on track, it appears that another member of the band has veered off it. Jason Green, who plays lead guitar for C3, was spotted boozing it up at a local hotspot with a few dozen of his closest friends. Shane and the final member of Connect Three, Nate Brown, were nowhere in sight. Such behaviour for this previously media-shy popstar is becoming somewhat commonplace, as only last week he was put under fire for being arrested for DUI, along with the theft of his cell phone from which some very provocative photos of himself and a buxom blonde have been leaked, being anything but the pure, wholesome image that Connect Three have built themselves upon. Connect Three's publicist Jeff Ryan keeps issuing denial after denial, but multiple eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence is a bit hard to argue with. Will Jason be able to pull himself together and reform his image like Shane did last year, or is he going to end up in rehab (or worse) like many other fallen stars? Back to you, Steve."

_

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_This is going to be a two-shot, the other half should be up tomorrow or the day after._ _Don't hate me for ruining Jason just yet. But please do **review **and tell me what you think so far!_


	2. Can't Handle It, Can't Handle It

Jason stumbled into his hotel suite, narrowing his eyes at the sunlight that glared in through the open window. He ran a hand through his greasy hair and dumped his keys and wallet on the hall table. Sure, his license was suspended but it wasn't as if anyone could do anything about it.

"Wow, Jase, this is late, even for you," a sardonic voice remarked from across the room.

Nate was standing in front of the coffee table, arms folded, and the look on his face told Jason he was none too impressed. The same expression was mirrored by Caitlyn, who sat on the edge of the sofa, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin in her hand.

"It's not that late," Jason rolled his eyes, shrugging off his jacket.

"It's nearly 6 in the morning! What did you do after you ditched us for those girls at dinner?" Caitlyn exclaimed.

"Honestly? I don't really remember," Jason smirked, raising a cocky eyebrow at his two friends.

"That's just brilliant, Jason. We told you last night that you had to be back early! We happen to have a photo shoot scheduled in fifteen minutes, if you've forgotten," Nate scowled.

"Yeah, I remember. I don't get what the big deal is. It's not like you and Shane can't just do it without me," Jason sneered.

"How could you say that?" Nate snapped. "We're Connect Three, remember? One, two, three? It doesn't work if there are only two people in the band!"

"Whatever. Maybe they should just change the name of the band to… Connect Two!" Jason retorted dully.

Nate and Caitlyn exchanged bemused looks, before Caitlyn stood to face him. "Look, Jason, I don't know what the hell is the matter with you, but Mitchie has gone ahead to stall and see if they can do her shoot first. That should buy you some time, but you really need to get showered and changed right now. They want us down there ASAP."

"The matter with me?" Jason snorted. "Caitlyn, what the hell is the matter with you? Look, I know you're interning for the label and all, but just because you were assigned to us doesn't make you our manager or our boss. You're just another nobody in the background, so why don't you stop being such a fucking control freak? No wonder Zack dumped you!"

And with that, he turned on his heel and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. An uncomfortable silence settled over the room as Caitlyn remained staring at the same spot Jason had previously been with a face devoid of emotion, while Nate gaped at the bathroom door in disbelief and disgust. It was only when the sound of a running shower permeated the quiet did he find the words to speak.

"Don't listen to him, Caitlyn," he turned to her and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "You've done a great job with all the tracks for our new album, and bringing up Zack was just totally out of line. I don't know why he would have done that."

"No, it's okay," Caitlyn shrugged him off. "He never liked Zack in the first place."

"He's freakin' insane," Nate shook his head, slumped on the sofa and pulled out his cell phone, presumably to text their manager of Jason's latest meltdown.

Not two seconds later, Shane banged into the room, a furious expression on his face. "Where is he? Is he back? He'd better be back, or I'm going to kick his ass. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm going to kick his ass either way!"

"Good morning to you too," Caitlyn scoffed. "How did they take to the shoot rescheduling?"

"Well, they're not happy, obviously, but as long as Mitchie's down there they're not complaining," Shane shrugged.

"Then explain to us again why you're kicking Jason's ass?" Nate sighed deprecatingly.

"Look at this!" Shane sneered, pulling a tabloid magazine from his back pocket and throwing it onto the coffee table with a slap.

"Or we could not?" Caitlyn raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because it goes through all the details of Jason's freaking demise, or whatever they're calling it!" Shane looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Demise? Whatever, Shane, everyone knows these things are just a pack of lies," Caitlyn looked down her nose at the colourful, glossy paper.

"Except this one isn't! They've got Jason and all his shit down to a T, and they're absolutely right. He's out of control!" Shane shouted.

"He's not," Caitlyn protested. "He's just lonely."

Nate snorted from the sofa, not looking up from his texting. "Caitlyn, did you _see_ those two sluts he was with last night? Jason is anything but lonely."

She scowled at him. "I have eyes, Nate. And so yes, obviously Jason isn't physically lonely. But emotionally it's a whole other story. Have you even _tried_ to talk to him?"

"Yes! God knows we've tried, Caity! We've tried interventions and therapists and nothing has gotten through to him," Nate sighed as Shane fell back on the sofa in defeat.

"Because you were talking _at_ him, not _to_ him! Did you actually listen?" she huffed, looking between the two of them condescendingly.

"Don't you fucking patronise me, Caitlyn Gellar," Shane spat venomously, standing again suddenly. "Jason is our best friend, and it's killing us to see him like this. Do you honestly think that we haven't tried everything in our power to help him?"

Caitlyn was shocked speechless for a moment. "No, I don't think that. It's just…"

"Just what? You think you can do a better job? Caitlyn, if you could get off your high horse for one second and try talking '_to_' him, as you said, then I'm all for it. But if you're just going to stand there and criticize our attempts at friendship, then I think you should probably leave," Shane glowered at Caitlyn as he pointed towards the door.

Caitlyn stared at him with wide eyes, before glancing at Nate for some sort of admonishment or argument on her behalf. But the way he guiltily avoided her eyes told her that he more or less agreed with Shane. Only then did Caitlyn realise how foolish she'd been in her anxiety, jumping to unfair conclusions about the two boys in front of her.

"I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean that you don't care about Jason, of course you do. He's my best friend too, and it's scary to see him like this, you know?" she bit her lip.

"We know, Cait. But trying to find something or someone to blame isn't going to make it any better," Nate grimaced sympathetically at her.

"Do you think I should talk to him?" Caitlyn wrung her hands unsurely, glancing timidly at Shane, who had resumed his position sitting next to Nate.

He nodded. "Do whatever you want. But don't hold your breath."

Caitlyn sighed and looked to Nate for a second opinion. He sighed and shrugged. "I think anything's worth a shot at this point."

Caitlyn looked to the closed bedroom door nervously. The shuffling from the other side indicated that Jason had finished with his shower and was either getting ready for the shoot or getting ready to have a nap. She wasn't sure if she wanted to interrupt either one.

"Dammit, I told the label reps I'd be back down in five," Shane muttered after looking at his watch. "You have to come too, Nate. We can make an excuse for one missing band member, but definitely not two."

Nate groaned melodramatically, and stood up with him. "Fine. Good luck, Caitlyn."

"Ditto," Shane nodded at her, before yelling "Jason! Ten minutes, dude! Be there or be unemployed!"

His reply came in the form of a muffled profanity, and Caitlyn waved to the two exiting boys before taking a deep breath and tapping lightly on the bedroom door.

"Jason? It's Caitlyn. Can I come in?"

No answer.

"I'm coming in!" she announced loudly, more for her own benefit than anyone else's.

She pushed the door open and Jason spun around immediately, an extremely irritated look on his face.

"What?" he spat.

Caitlyn had to take a second to get her bearings. Jason was standing shirtless in front of her, a hotel towel wrapped around his waist, his damp hair frizzing back to its natural curly state after three days of being flat-ironed straight. He glared at her for a few more seconds before realising that she wasn't going to give him a response anytime soon, so he rolled his eyes and collapsed on the bed, sighing loudly.

"Don't, you'll make your bedsheets wet," Caitlyn blurted out monotonously, as it was the first complete sentence that came into her head.

"Whatever, _mom_," Jason snorted, pointedly ignoring her. "I'm tired, I need to sleep. Leave me alone."

Caitlyn didn't know what came over her, but it was like a hot force pulsing through her veins, and she was suddenly furious. She stormed over to the bed and grabbed a fistful of the towel, yanking it off him and throwing it over her shoulder.

"What the fuck?" Jason screeched, desperately scrambling for a pillow to cover his exposed self.

Caitlyn pummelled at every piece of bare skin she could get at, punching and slapping in time with her words. "Get… up… you… good… for… nothing… piece… of… shit!"

Jason was screaming bloody murder, clambering across the mattress to get away from her, but she climbed up and followed him, still thrashing away. He reached the edge of the bed and promptly fell off with a shriek, dropping his pillow in his haste to get away from the mad woman with flailing fists. Caitlyn descended to the floor with a little more grace, standing up and grabbing Jason by his ear, bringing him up to his feet, but yet he was still crouched in an awkward position as she was about a foot shorter than he was. He would have tried fighting her off, but both hands were busy cupping the last of his manhood, out of fear that she would get carried away and actually castrate him.

"Put some fucking clothes on and get down to that shoot!" Caitlyn hollered at him, pushing him towards his wardrobe and pulling out an array of clothes, throwing them at his head.

Jason grabbed at a pair of boxers gratefully, making a point to turn his back to Caitlyn before yanking them on. He picked a t-shirt up off the floor and pulled it over his head, then wrestled on a pair of skinny jeans. Once he was sure he was fully clothed and much less vulnerable, he turned on a still fuming Caitlyn.

"Jason, no!" Nate suddenly burst into the room with a terrified look on his face.

Jason took a step back in bewilderment. "Huh? No what?"

"Whatever you were doing to Caitlyn!" Nate rushed over to Caitlyn and took her face in his hands, gently turning it from side to side like he was inspecting her for injuries. "I came back up to get my cell and I heard her screaming!"

Caitlyn had to hold back a laugh. "I wasn't screaming."

"Well, I heard a girl yelling her head off in this room, if it wasn't you, then who was it?" Nate frowned at her disbelievingly.

Caitlyn smirked at Jason over Nate's shoulder, his face turning a lovely shade of purple out of anger and humiliation. "Jason just had a bit of trouble getting dressed."

"What?" Nate turned back to Jason apprehensively.

"She's a psycho bitch!" Jason exploded, pushing his arms forward so Nate could see the angry red welts on them. "Look! She even gave me goddamn rug burn!"

Nate looked between his fuming bandmate and the curly-haired girl with one disdainfully raised eyebrow in incredulity, before he let out the yelp of laughter that Caitlyn had managed to suppress. Nobody ever knew how to act around Jason anymore, because they couldn't tell how he would respond to any given situation, but he just couldn't help himself. The mere idea of Caitlyn being half Jason's size and still beating him to a pulp was just too funny. But Jason's face went multicoloured in rage and Nate immediately quietened when he saw the reaction.

Caitlyn decided to step in at this point, and avoid another one of the pointless fights that had become all too common in the past six months. "Well, Jase, at least you're dressed now, and you can finally head to the photoshoot."

"Great idea!" Nate exclaimed mercifully, sending her a grateful smile before scurrying out of the room, just as eager to avert a confrontation.

Jason's vibrant complexion had cooled down to a pink tinge, and he was staring at Caitlyn with an unreadable expression.

She just looked down her nose at him. "Are you going, or what?"

"I can't believe he thought I would ever try to hurt you," Jason scoffed, shaking his head like it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

"But isn't that what you're doing anyway?" Caitlyn snapped at his ignorance.

"What?" Jason looked shocked. "No, I've never wanted to hurt you!"

"But you have, Jason," Caitlyn sighed as she felt the corners of her eyes prickle uncomfortably. "All the shit you've been pulling, acting up, being a total dick, it's hurting me to see you like this. It's hurting everyone! Can't you see that?"

"I…" Jason began to reply, but realised he didn't have an answer.

"Look, we don't have time for this," Caitlyn huffed. "You have to go. And I have work to do. We'll talk later."

She picked up his guitar case off the floor and pushed it into his chest, knocking the wind out of him as he tried to argue. He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath to snap at her, when he noticed the tears that threatened to spill from her eyelids, and froze up. He'd known her for nearly a year, and he'd never seen her cry once. Granted, he had been on tour when her parents divorced, but she had only let a couple of sniffles slip that he could hear over the phone. And he had been so self-absorbed in his new life when she had split up with her boyfriend Zack that he wouldn't have even known if Shane hadn't told him about it weeks later.

"Caitlyn…" he wheezed out of his crushed lungs.

"Where did you go, Jason?" Caitlyn hissed sadly, a single tear trickling down her cheek.

"I didn't go anywhere, Caity. I'm standing right here, aren't I?" Jason scowled, as if she was asking him an impertinent trick question.

"No, Jason Green is not standing right in front of me," Caitlyn retorted. "Jason Green is a lovely, beautiful boy who would never go on all night benders and blow off his friends. You're just some angry, ugly person, and I don't know who you are, but you're not my best friend. I don't think I can do this anymore."

She gave him a final sad look and walked out of the room. Jason followed her desperately.

"You can't do what anymore? Caitlyn? CAITLYN!" he shouted after her, but the only response he got was the slamming of the door as she left.

He was in a such a distracted state of mind by the time he got to the photo shoot that his colleagues were stunned at how exceptionally obliging he was. He didn't even think about what he was doing, just posed, smiled, smouldered on cue. All comments were met with a blank look and a sharp nod or shake of the head. All he could think about was what Caitlyn had said. Was he really hurting his friends with his over the top behaviour? All he wanted was an equal amount of attention as Shane and Nate, and maybe then a certain person would take notice of him, instead of always passing him by. But it wasn't worth losing her over it.

As the shoot wrapped up, Jason spotted Caitlyn up the back of the room, talking animatedly to Mitchie and into her cell simultaneously. She laughed, but he could tell from the way her eyes didn't light up that she was faking it. He was proved correct when she rolled her eyes at Mitchie as she hung up the phone. She gave her a kiss on the cheek as the two bade farewell, and waved light-heartedly at Nate and Shane as she pulled the exit open. When her eyes landed on him, however, her face deadpanned, and she nodded at him, as if to say, 'ready to talk when you are.' He gave a slight tilt of his head back at her and followed her out of the room.

As he passed through the doorway, Caitlyn was already out of sight, but he could hear her footsteps clattering up the stairs to his right. He followed the metallic footfalls all the way up to the roof, and looked out across the concrete slab to where Caitlyn was standing, staring at the ocean. She hugged herself as the cool breeze floated past, when suddenly she felt the presence of Jason approaching behind her, and she turned to face him.

He was standing barely inches away, so close that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. "What do you want from me, Caitlyn?" he whispered, his eyes pleading with her.

"I just want my favourite person in the world back," she reached up and placed her two hands on his shoulders.

"Don't even pretend like I mean that much to you!" he spat angrily, taking a step back.

He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, and his guilt deepened as he saw the hurt in her eyes.

"How could you say that?" she hissed, her eyes narrowing. "You were my best friend, Jason! _You_ were the one who threw that away!"

"You were meant to care, Caitlyn!" Jason shouted "You were meant to stop me before I got in too deep!"

"What are you talking about?" she scowled. "All this is your doing Jason, don't try and pass the blame on to me!"

"If you hadn't been so busy with _Zack_," he spat the name out like it was a filthy curse, "you would have noticed what was wrong with me!"

"Is that was this is about? Zack?" she gaped at him. "Because as I recall, you never said more than two words to that prick!"

"Because he wasn't good enough for you!" he exclaimed, and both teenagers fell silent.

"I just wanted you to see me, Caitlyn," Jason finally broke the silence by mumbling to his shoes, not daring to look at her.

"So, this whole act, self-destructing yourself, textbook attention-seeking cries for help, that was all for me?" Caitlyn asked in a small voice.

"I guess I just thought you'd always be around to catch me if I fell too far," he kicked at a stone near his sneaker absent-mindedly.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Jason," she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. "You should have said something."

"I know, I know, but I knew you didn't feel the same, you had Zack," he muttered into her shoulder. "But all this, everything I've done, I don't know why I thought it would help."

Caitlyn released him and took a step back, immediately disliking how she felt without him in her arms "Jason, I-I don't know what to say…"

"Don't say anything. I've done horrible things, Caitlyn," he choked, burying his face in his hands. "And they're all catching up with me."

"Jason," she stated firmly, tucking her index finger under his chin and tilting his face up to look her in the eyes. "You are my friend, and I love you. You can tell me anything, and I will still love you. I won't judge you, I won't scold you, I won't show you where you went wrong. I will listen and I will try to understand. So please don't be afraid. I could never be disappointed in you."

"Cait, I…" Jason's voice cracked, and for only the second time in his life he had been rendered absolutely speechless.

Caitlyn took his hand and gripped it tightly. "I just want you to be happy, Jason."

And suddenly, all the frustrated, angry and wretched pent up feelings of the last six months came pouring out of him. "I just wanted to be interesting like Shane and Nate. Everyone thought I was stupid and boring, so nobody ever wanted to know about my love life or my music. It was just getting to be unbearable. All Mitchie ever wanted to talk about was Shane, and vice versa. Nate was treating me like a complete idiot because I kept messing up all of his complicated chords, and you… God, as soon as you said yes to that Zack loser I knew I had to do something. So I just stopped caring about everything. If I ever thought 'I could never do that' about something, well, fuck, I went and I did it anyway."

"But you weren't happy, were you?" Caitlyn whispered, taking his both of his hands in hers and squeezing gently.

"No, I wasn't. I was fucking miserable the whole time. But I was being noticed, and that's all that mattered," Jason sniffed. "But it wasn't enough. It was never enough."

"Enough for what?" she implored, gazing up at him.

He stared at her beseechingly, and she understood. "Oh," she breathed.

"And I know this is completely ridiculous because you'll never see me as more than your friend, but you at least deserve an explanation," Jason sighed, pulling his hands out of hers.

"Never say never, Jason," Caitlyn crossed her arms over her chest and shyly smiled at him.

"What are you talking about?" he wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"I'm talking about how you weren't the only one trying to be noticed," Caitlyn scuffed her toe bashfully.

"Huh?" She'd lost him.

"Look, you think I didn't know Zack was a total douche when I started dating him? He was a fame-sucking whore and he wasn't subtle about it, either," Caitlyn spat in disdain.

"Then why did you date him?" Jason gaped at her in shock.

"I'd never had a boyfriend before, and I was afraid you didn't think of me as dating material. I wanted you to see me," she repeated his earlier words, tilting her head up and standing on her tiptoes, chastely kissing him on the lips.

Jason felt a rush of air leave his lungs and his head spun and he had to grab the back of her head to keep from falling over. She giggled into his mouth and slid her arms around his waist, tucking her thumbs into the belt loops on his jeans. He twirled his fingers into her unruly curls and went to deepen the kiss, before that convincing human instinct that everything is too good to be true flared up in the back of his mind. He pulled away reluctantly and detangled himself from her, avoiding her perplexed eyes.

"Look, you don't have to do anything because you feel sorry for me, okay?" he pouted, shoving his hand in his pockets and rocking back on his heels.

"What? I'm not _pitying_ you!" Caitlyn automatically went to stop herself from chuckling, before she realised that Jason wouldn't mind anymore if she did.

"Then why are you doing this?" Jason frowned at her doubtfully.

"Because I finally saw you," Caitlyn traced her fingers up his chest and around the back of his neck, leaning in.

"I'm not worth it, not anymore," his heart was racing as her face got closer and closer, and he resisted the urge to pinch himself to make sure this was real.

"Let me decide that," Caitlyn breathed, her warm breath making his lips tingle before she again covered them with her own.

--

_**New Couple Alert!  
**_Two months ago, Jason Green was headed down a one way street of complete trainwreckage. We've all seen how fame can go to people's heads, and though he started off grounded, he was soon flying high, addling his money away on drinks and girls and god knows what else. We remember the good old days were we couldn't go a day without at least three stories of his antics, and he was pegged as the lovechild of Britney, Lindsay and Joaquin. Thank goodness that romance stepped in before he could shave his head or attack someone with an umbrella.  
Rumor has it that he's been quietly dating close friend Caitlyn Gellar for the last few weeks, and that's why he's been off our radars. The paps got bored and the blogs couldn't find any goss, and whenever anyone asked Connect Three what brought about the sudden change, they all smirked and made jokes like 'divine intervention' and 'Chuck Norris'.  
But now we've learned that it was **love** that brought him back down to earth, and all the more too him. Caitlyn's a cutie! Imagine how adorable their babies would be!  
For the love of god, Jason, don't screw it up! Good luck!

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_Aw, I missed writing my beloved Jason, even if he was totally whack in this. And if I want a heroic female character, I always end up writing the gallant and noble Caitlyn. So this is dedicated to __suburbs__ for always being so wonderful, and for being probably the only other hardcore Jaitlyn fan on this site other than myself. She is seriously fantastic :)  
__Was this what you were expecting? I couldn't bring myself to make it more dramatic, it's __Jason__ for god's sake. And for those of you who remember NHCAOA, I think you'll agree there's plenty of self-pitying angst in there to last me the rest of my writing career. Did you think I went in the right direction, or am I just a wimp? Either way,__** review**__ plzthx. _


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